Monday, September 24, 2012
The Seriousness of Yoga
I just wanted to take some time to clear a misnomer up about yoga: Its Not Serious! Its ok to lighten up, to smile, to laugh, its SUPPOSED to be fun! So by all means enjoy it, and enjoy yourself. Feel free to get goofy and playful and creative. Yoga is about letting go, relaxing, and lightening up, and getting in tune with our true self and connecting and sharing with others. So be bold and put a smile on your face next time you are in class or practicing alone at home! *^_^*
(haha and speaking of celebs that love yoga, that bright smiling face is that of Reese Witherspoon =P)
Frequently Asked Yoga Questions
So I continue to be asked yoga basic questions, figured it might be a clever idea to post some answers on the world wide web.. so here you have it *^_^* :
1.
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What is Yoga?
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2.
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Do you have to be of a specific religion to do Yoga?
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This is
the one question I get asked the most, and the answer is simple: NO! You
do not have to have any specific relgious or spiritual requirements to
practice yoga. Also it does not conflict with any religion or spiritual
practice that you currently have.
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3.
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What do i bring to class? What do I wear?
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I have a
loner mat that I can bring if you do not have one. Other than that
items you will need would include a washcloth, and water (and mat if you
already own one). And thats it! its that simple. As far as clothing
goes, there is no such thing as a yoga uniform. Just wear whatever
inspires you, whatever you feel comfortable in.
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4.
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Im not flexible, can I do Yoga?
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YES! Yoga is perfect for everyone, no matter your age, weigh, or current health, if you can move and breathe, you can do yoga!
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5.
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Why am I supposed to wait 2 or 3 hours after eating to do Yoga?
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In Yoga we
twist from side to side, turn upside down, and bend
forward and backward. If you have not fully digested your last meal, it
will make you uncomfortable. If you
are a person with a fast-acting digestive system experiment with a light
snack about 30 minutes to an hour
before class.
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6.
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How often should I practice?
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Practice
as often as you like. Unlike bootcamp, or weight training, long breaks
are not needed. If you love working out, then practice as often as you
like, you can practice up to twice a day everyday. For other with a busy
schedule, even if you just have a single one-hour session in your whole
week you will feel adn see the benefits of Yoga!
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Thursday, September 13, 2012
Inspirational Words
My inspirational words of the day are 'why' and 'not', putting them together you get 'why not'. A question and an answer to endless possibilities! So today when someone asks you something, try responding with 'why not' and live a little!
Much love everyone!
Namaste,
~Stephanie
Much love everyone!
Namaste,
~Stephanie
posted from Bloggeroid
Celebrities that LOVE Yoga!
Kendra Wilkinson (star of: Girls Next Door, Kendra, and Kendra on Top) raves about yoga on her own website:
http://kendrawilkinson.com/blog/post/get-your-yoga-on
' Get Your Yoga On Jun 18, 2012 at 9:57am by Kendra
Getting and staying in shape can be really tough, especially after having a baby, but I’ve found that yoga can do wonders for both your body and your spirit. Hank and I are huge fans of Bikram Yoga, which is a hot yoga series performed in a room that’s heated to over 100 degrees! It sounds crazy, but the heated room is great for relieving stress and tension while you go in and out of poses, and I love just how focused I get during these intense, challenging classes.
Yoga’s already a great way to get lean muscles and build up your strength while staying toned, but the extra calories you burn while doing the poses in the hot studio is definitely worth the extra sweat. You can learn more about Bikram Yoga and find a class in your town here.
How are you staying fit this summer? Love, Kendra'
Kate Beckinsale (the action star who's tight legs and flat tummy we all secretly envy) discusses her success with Yoga in a Women's Health interview:
http://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/kate-beckinsale
Although Kate wasn't a fan of the workoutsand luckily, never threw up in a gym trash can--she kept them up, and her efforts paid off when she was cast in 2003's Underworld. It was this gothic flick that first turned her into an unlikely action star (it was also where she met her husband, writer and director Len Wiseman) and the first of three movies in which she has played Selene, a vampire who hunts werewolves while wearing a skintight latex suit.
Despite her hard-won hard body, Kate had one slight problem when she began filming: In many ways she was still that same girl who tried to escape gym classand she didn't exactly move with athletic prowess. In fact, she says she couldn't even run. "I mean, I could run if a bear were chasing me, but I ran like a girl with my arms like this," she says, flailing goofily. "The day they asked me to try a few punches, it was dismal. All I could see was despair in the stunt coordinator's face."
But Kate was a quick study, and the rest is action-hero history. The intense gym workouts, however, are no more; after hurting her back about four or five years ago, Kate traded them for a yoga-based routine. "I'd gotten particularly sick of being photographed outside a gym doing a squat with a medicine ball," she jokes. She also practices qigong, a discipline involving controlled breathing and fluid movements that's similar to tai chi.
In addition to making her physically strong, yoga and qigong help Kate relax. That's important to her because, for one thing, she does a lot more onscreen than kick butt. (Her next project, The Trials of Cate McCall, is a drama.) Plus, Kate says she's the kind of person who tends to worry about everything, and with her daughter, Lily, now in her teens . . . well . . . a little extra calm can't hurt. (Lily's father is actor Michael Sheen, with whom Kate had a long-term relationship.)'
More quotes from the actress herself :
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-3682/Kate-Beckinsale-Credits-Yoga-for-Body.html
'38-year-old actress, Kate Beckinsale, credits her daily yoga practice for her superstar figure. Can you guess which part of yoga class is Kate's favorite?
Savasana!
News.com reports that Kate loves savasana. She jokingly says:
“There’s a carrot at the end - I get to lie down for 10 minutes. If that part didn’t exist, I wouldn’t do it.”
Yoga was initially a tough sell for Kate, but she soon fell in love with her practice and says yoga is responsible for her famous figure:
“I always hated the idea of it - yoga and golf are similar in that people can become obsessive and boring about it. I never thought that would be me, but I do feel a lot better [for doing it]. And a happy side effect is that it lifts my bottom.”
Namaste to that!
Published December 19, 2011 at 6:15 AM'
http://kendrawilkinson.com/blog/post/get-your-yoga-on
' Get Your Yoga On Jun 18, 2012 at 9:57am by Kendra
Getting and staying in shape can be really tough, especially after having a baby, but I’ve found that yoga can do wonders for both your body and your spirit. Hank and I are huge fans of Bikram Yoga, which is a hot yoga series performed in a room that’s heated to over 100 degrees! It sounds crazy, but the heated room is great for relieving stress and tension while you go in and out of poses, and I love just how focused I get during these intense, challenging classes.
Yoga’s already a great way to get lean muscles and build up your strength while staying toned, but the extra calories you burn while doing the poses in the hot studio is definitely worth the extra sweat. You can learn more about Bikram Yoga and find a class in your town here.
How are you staying fit this summer? Love, Kendra'
Kate Beckinsale (the action star who's tight legs and flat tummy we all secretly envy) discusses her success with Yoga in a Women's Health interview:
http://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/kate-beckinsale
Although Kate wasn't a fan of the workouts
Despite her hard-won hard body, Kate had one slight problem when she began filming: In many ways she was still that same girl who tried to escape gym class
But Kate was a quick study, and the rest is action-hero history. The intense gym workouts, however, are no more; after hurting her back about four or five years ago, Kate traded them for a yoga-based routine. "I'd gotten particularly sick of being photographed outside a gym doing a squat with a medicine ball," she jokes. She also practices qigong, a discipline involving controlled breathing and fluid movements that's similar to tai chi.
In addition to making her physically strong, yoga and qigong help Kate relax. That's important to her because, for one thing, she does a lot more onscreen than kick butt. (Her next project, The Trials of Cate McCall, is a drama.) Plus, Kate says she's the kind of person who tends to worry about everything, and with her daughter, Lily, now in her teens . . . well . . . a little extra calm can't hurt. (Lily's father is actor Michael Sheen, with whom Kate had a long-term relationship.)'
More quotes from the actress herself :
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-3682/Kate-Beckinsale-Credits-Yoga-for-Body.html
'38-year-old actress, Kate Beckinsale, credits her daily yoga practice for her superstar figure. Can you guess which part of yoga class is Kate's favorite?
Savasana!
News.com reports that Kate loves savasana. She jokingly says:
“There’s a carrot at the end - I get to lie down for 10 minutes. If that part didn’t exist, I wouldn’t do it.”
Yoga was initially a tough sell for Kate, but she soon fell in love with her practice and says yoga is responsible for her famous figure:
“I always hated the idea of it - yoga and golf are similar in that people can become obsessive and boring about it. I never thought that would be me, but I do feel a lot better [for doing it]. And a happy side effect is that it lifts my bottom.”
Namaste to that!
Published December 19, 2011 at 6:15 AM'
posted from Bloggeroid
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Principle 14
14- 'If we cling to anger or hatred, we will suffer. It is possible to respond strongly, wisely, and compassionately without hatred.'
I don't feel complelled to disect this principle too indepth, its rather self explanitory =) its very evident that negative thoughts, feelings, responses and reaction create more suffering for ourselves and those around us, and no one enjoys suffering. We all must learn to relax, breathe, notice our anger, and then let it go, responding rationally and intellegently by our own choice, instead of succubing to the wave of negative emotions. =)
I don't feel complelled to disect this principle too indepth, its rather self explanitory =) its very evident that negative thoughts, feelings, responses and reaction create more suffering for ourselves and those around us, and no one enjoys suffering. We all must learn to relax, breathe, notice our anger, and then let it go, responding rationally and intellegently by our own choice, instead of succubing to the wave of negative emotions. =)
posted from Bloggeroid
Principle 13
13 - 'There are both healthy desires and unhealthy desires. Know the difference. Then find freedom in their midst.'
Now when we talk about desires in this context, they are desires in the realm of wanting a chocolate day vs eating healthy, or staying up late verses sleeping properly, this is not a post about obvious unhealthy desires such as hurting ones self or others in a violent fashion. Within the realm of day to day thoughts and desires, we have heathy and unheathy wants, some are border each other so closley it can be a challenge to disern which is which. We go around wanting and wanting and wanting, all we ever really think about is what we want, from life dreams and goals, down to whether or not we want to get off the couch and wash our teeth after dinner.
Step one: just observe the thoughts that fly through your head all day long. To begin, just notice all your thoughts for 1 minute, then in your meditations practice noticing your thoughts (aka your wants) for 20 min, then 30, the 45 then 60. Soon you'll be able to just notice your thoughts through out your day.
Step 2- once you are able to notice your thoughts, without judgement, you'll start to pick up on the patterns of what is healthy (for yourself and others) and what is not. Again a visual: the difference between healthy and unhealthy is as subtle as your mood. For instance, we often get cranky, or fussy, bitchy, moody, pissed off, depressed, and when we get in these emotional states we tend to stay there for hours, maybe days, why? because we want to! Let's face it, we are only as happy or as miserable as we want to be (refer back to my hospice post). If we didn't want to be upset, then we wouldn't be. We find ourselves 'stuck' by our own doing. This is an example of an unhealthy desire, the desire to just 'sit there and take it' to not 'get over it'.
Step 3- freedom! Once we have accepted we have desires all day everyday, when we can observe them and decern one from the other, then we can free ourselves from their grasp and control!
Now when we talk about desires in this context, they are desires in the realm of wanting a chocolate day vs eating healthy, or staying up late verses sleeping properly, this is not a post about obvious unhealthy desires such as hurting ones self or others in a violent fashion. Within the realm of day to day thoughts and desires, we have heathy and unheathy wants, some are border each other so closley it can be a challenge to disern which is which. We go around wanting and wanting and wanting, all we ever really think about is what we want, from life dreams and goals, down to whether or not we want to get off the couch and wash our teeth after dinner.
Step one: just observe the thoughts that fly through your head all day long. To begin, just notice all your thoughts for 1 minute, then in your meditations practice noticing your thoughts (aka your wants) for 20 min, then 30, the 45 then 60. Soon you'll be able to just notice your thoughts through out your day.
Step 2- once you are able to notice your thoughts, without judgement, you'll start to pick up on the patterns of what is healthy (for yourself and others) and what is not. Again a visual: the difference between healthy and unhealthy is as subtle as your mood. For instance, we often get cranky, or fussy, bitchy, moody, pissed off, depressed, and when we get in these emotional states we tend to stay there for hours, maybe days, why? because we want to! Let's face it, we are only as happy or as miserable as we want to be (refer back to my hospice post). If we didn't want to be upset, then we wouldn't be. We find ourselves 'stuck' by our own doing. This is an example of an unhealthy desire, the desire to just 'sit there and take it' to not 'get over it'.
Step 3- freedom! Once we have accepted we have desires all day everyday, when we can observe them and decern one from the other, then we can free ourselves from their grasp and control!
posted from Bloggeroid
Principle 12
Back to the 26 Principles of Buddhist Philosophy =)
No. 12 - 'The unhealthy patterns of our personality can be recognized and transformed into a healthy expression of our natural temperament.'
What this is saying is do not judge yourself, blame yourself, beat yourself down or punish yourself for your negative thought patterns. Example if you get cut off in traffic and think 'that jerk', then fine ok, you had a reaction, you don't need to make the situation worse by making yourself wrong for it. Then once we accept our humaity, accept our 'flaws' and love ourselves with them, (going back to that acceptance post) then you can make healthy changes if you wish.
So if you would like to shift what's naturally occuring, allow it to still be natural, when a 'negative' though comes up like 'i feel bloated today' you can then say right after 'my eyes look really stunning' or 'i am strong and confident, and will rock my meeting' or simply 'i am beautiful'. Or if you think 'that jerk' you can continue on with positive thoughts like 'maybe he didn't see me' or 'this road leads to the hospital, maybe they are in a hurray there to help someone' or 'maybe they are having a bad day, I want to wish them love and kindness, hope they find what they are looking for soon.' And on and so forth.
We go to the Dr. for body health and the dentist for oral health, keeping our thoughts postive will keep our minds in better health!
Much love everyone, keep it positive, stay healthy!
No. 12 - 'The unhealthy patterns of our personality can be recognized and transformed into a healthy expression of our natural temperament.'
What this is saying is do not judge yourself, blame yourself, beat yourself down or punish yourself for your negative thought patterns. Example if you get cut off in traffic and think 'that jerk', then fine ok, you had a reaction, you don't need to make the situation worse by making yourself wrong for it. Then once we accept our humaity, accept our 'flaws' and love ourselves with them, (going back to that acceptance post) then you can make healthy changes if you wish.
So if you would like to shift what's naturally occuring, allow it to still be natural, when a 'negative' though comes up like 'i feel bloated today' you can then say right after 'my eyes look really stunning' or 'i am strong and confident, and will rock my meeting' or simply 'i am beautiful'. Or if you think 'that jerk' you can continue on with positive thoughts like 'maybe he didn't see me' or 'this road leads to the hospital, maybe they are in a hurray there to help someone' or 'maybe they are having a bad day, I want to wish them love and kindness, hope they find what they are looking for soon.' And on and so forth.
We go to the Dr. for body health and the dentist for oral health, keeping our thoughts postive will keep our minds in better health!
Much love everyone, keep it positive, stay healthy!
posted from Bloggeroid
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Happy Fall!
Hurray, September 1st! Thank you all for allowing me to take a month off, have a little summer vacation =)
I'm excited to be back!
For those of you who haven't heard yet, I'm working at Breathe Yoga and Massage Vancouver, first week of yoga is free, some stop on by and check it out, the space is lovely and the people become instant family! =)
I'm excited to be back!
For those of you who haven't heard yet, I'm working at Breathe Yoga and Massage Vancouver, first week of yoga is free, some stop on by and check it out, the space is lovely and the people become instant family! =)
posted from Bloggeroid
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